Improvement in ash-sifters



UNITED STATES PATENT FFIGE.

SAMUEL B. SEXTON, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IMPROVEMENT lN ASH-fSIFTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. $15,093, dated March 3, 1874; application led February 2, 1874.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL B. SEXTON, of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ash- Sifters, of which the following is a specification:

My improved ash-sifter consists of a cylindrical or tapering casing with perforated bottom, (adapted to flt within a barrel, bucket, or any suitable receptacle, which need not be specially prepared to receive it,) a funnelshaped magazine or feeder to keep the main bulk of ashes from resting their full weight upon the arms and said perforated bottom, and a vertical crank-shaft, carrying near the perforated bottom one or more radial arms, the shaft having a limited vertical play to permit the said arms to pass over obstructions. The shaft also constitutes a pivot for a segmental sliding cover, as hereinafter explained.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure l is a plan of the improved sifter, showing the segmental cover partly open. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section thereof on the line 2 2, Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a vvertical section on the line 3 3, Fig. l.

A represents a casing, with either cylindrical or downwardly-tapering sides and top, a, which may be conical, spherical, or flat, as preferred. M is a funnel-shaped magazine or feeder, into which the material to be sifted is placed, being introduced through the segmental aperture in the top a.. B is a perforated bottom. C is a cover, closing the segmental aperture in the top a, a-nd hung upon the vertical shaft D, which is provided at top with a crank, el, to turn it, and carries, in close proximity to the bottom B, one, two, or more radial arms or scrapers, E. rIhe nut or bottom F, by which the shaft is confined within the easing, permits sufficient vertical play of the shaft to enable the arms or Scrapers E to ride over immovable obstacles. G is a stop, against which the sliding cover C is closed.

A door or opening may -be made in the side of the sifter, through which .the coals can be removed.

The operation of the improved sifter is as follows: The cover C being turned back, the ashes are introduced into the funnel-shaped magazine or feeder M. The cover is then closed and the shaft D rotated back and forth, causing the scrapcrs to sweep around at the dischargingaperture m of the magazine or feeder. The discharge-aperture is just large enough to emit ashes without clogging the scrapers. The dust falls through the perforated bottom in a receptacle below. The contents of the feeder having been sifted, the sifter is removed and the cover turned back. The cinders are then discharged at the aperture m by turning the sifter over and shaking the same until all the cinders are removed.

It will be observed that the ashes are spread over a large perforated surface as they descend from the feeder, and therefore the sifting process is rapid. The ilow can be regulated to any degree by adjusting the size of the dischargeopening m.

rlhe great advantage of the magazine-sifter over others is that it can be lled to the top and be worked with the same ease as though 'only a quarter full.

I claim as newrlhe ash-sifter herein described, constructed with an outer casing, A, funnel-shaped magazine or feeder M, stationary perforated bottoni B, disconnected from said magazine, vertical crank-shaft D, and scrapers E, substantially as specified.

Witnesses: SAMUEL B. SEXTON.

SAML. MoCoY, A. C. RHODES, of E. 

